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Bulldogs Downed By Bears

Peshtigo Coughs Up Early Lead; Crivitz Beats Up On White Lake/Elcho

Bulldogs Start Strong But Fall To Bonduel

The Peshtigo Bulldogs looked flat-out brilliant on a few plays against the very strong Bears in Bonduel last Thursday evening as they jumped out to a 12-7 early lead. But Peshtigos handful of brilliant plays fell short of making up a complete game of solid football as the Bears turned things around in the second with a safety and a touchdown to go into the break up 16-12 before surging ahead with a 16-point scoring outburst in the third frame to put the game away as Peshtigos o=-ffense never managed to get back on track and the team ended up on the wrong side of a 39-12 final readout.

We made progress on thursday from week one which was good but not enough, said Bulldogs head coach Eric Seyler. We kept competing until the end so we still have that effort, but we need to clean up our own miscues. In the second half we had communications errors and more miscues which hurt us, but it was all self inflicted. We were trying to make a concerted effort to run the ball in the second half more but these issues put us in third and longs.

The frequency of third-and-long situations the Bulldogs found themselves in over the course of the second half were largely responsible for the team failing to score any points in the third and fourth frames.

And while the rushing attack struggled, picking up only 15 total yards on 31 attempts, the passing game looked pretty solid as Peshtigo put up 135 yards through the air on 26 passing plays and both Jake Jagielski and Justin Thill had touchdown strikes on the evening. Jagielski connected on a 13-yard play to Jacob Bloch in the first quarter

while Thill hit Marcus Sharkey for a beautiful 37-yard touchdown pass that saw the young Peshtigo signal caller scramble out of the pocket nicely, giving himself space form pursuing defenders and finding room to deliver the ball deep down the field.

We are still making progress and that is a good sign, we didn't go backwards. Our message to the team is to continue to keep moving forward, commented coach Seyler. Our season essentially starts over now that we are into conference games and that is our focus, getting better and winning conference games to secure a spot in the post-season.

Crivitz Hammers White

Lake/Elcho

48-0?

The game was called in the second quarter due to lightning in the Crivitz area. That score cant be right.

Well, it checks out.

The Crivitz Wolverines, losers in week one to the tune of 41-13 compliments of the Bonduel Bears, got back on track with a big shutout win in front of their home fans last Friday before the weather turned. And they still had five and a half minutes to play in the second quarter when the game was called.

Crivitz didnt get going until the clock read 8:52 in the opening quarter. Quarterback Colton Lange connected with Kershaw Stumbris for a 22-yard touchdown play and the flood gates opened up from there as Nicholas Chapman scored less than three minutes later on a run from 20-yards out.

The Wolverines racked up 36 points in the games opening quarter. And, keep in mind, they didnt start lighting up the scoreboard until just under the nine-minute mark.

Lange finished the game three-for-five with 38 yards and he came up with an interception on the defensive side of the ball while Nicholas Chapman led the running game with 49 yards on four attempts.

Stumbris, in addition to catching a pair of passes, both for scores, also threw one to David Poh that went for 23 yards and a touchdown, the last of the teams 36 points in the first quarter.

Its also very much worth mentioning that the Crivitz defense bullied the White Lake/Elcho offense into a negative output on the evening as the visiting squad put -11 yards into the stat book.

Cougars Edged

In Defensive Struggle

Up 12-8 at halftime last Thursday at home against Little Wolf of Manawa, the Coleman Cougars looked to be in good shape for a victory despite the absence of their head coach, Jeff Bronson, who was not with the team due to the birth of his new son. Congratulations, Coach Bronson.

The Cougars had put two touchdowns on the board in the first half, one on the ground and one through the air, and had shown they could move the ball against the Wolves. But the pair of first half scores were all the Cougars could come up with as they failed to respond to a 43-yard scoring play from Little Wolf in the fourth quarter, a play that gave the invading Wolves an advantage on the scoreboard that they would keep the rest of the way en route to a narrow 15-12 victory.

Kevin Lansin, who wrapped the game with 59 yards on 17 attempts, got across the goal line from one yard out to get the games first score while quarterback Blake Margis found Josh PIllath for a 22-yard scoring strike through the air to wrap up the first halfs scoring. Margis finished the day two-for-four with 29 yards and no interceptions. Brandon Pagel added 31 yards on six attempts for the Coleman rushing attack.

Another Blowout Win

For Gillett

The Gillett Tigers early-season dominance continues as the team followed up its 63-0 week-one win against Elcho/White Lake with a 49-7 victory over Marion/Tigerton last Friday on 390 total yards gained, next to 196 total from the Mustangs. The Tigers scored eight touchdowns in their most recent victory and two of them came on the defensive side of the ball. Evan Bubolz picked up a Mustangs fumble in the third quarter and brought it back 80 yards for a score, followed by another fumble recovered for a touchdown from Broden Bennin with just over two minutes left in the game.

The pair of defensive touchdowns were a nice way to close out the lopsided win but the Tigers were earning it on offense from the opening whistle. Matt Peterson scored with a 25-yard run very early in the first period and then again less than 10 minutes later from five yards out as the Gillett gang closed the first quarter with a 13-0 lead and control of the game.

I thought we did a good job of establishing the line of scrimmage on offense. We were able to use all of our running backs which provided us with a nice balanced attack. said Gillett head coach Rick Kamps. (Alex) Zeitler did not have to throw it much, but when he did, once again he was very efficient going 4-for-7 with a TD. Both Monte Noffke and Matt Peterson were able to score 2 TDs on some nice runs and I thought we were able to capitalize on their mistakes and turnovers, scoring on a 80 yard fumble recovery.

Following a Zeitler-to-Akeem Bates scoring pass of 38 yards to open the scoring in the second frame, Noffke jammed his pair of ground scores down the throats of the visiting Mustangs, both coming from three yards out and by the time he was done and both teams headed off the field for halftime, the Tigers were way out front 31-0.

We need to correct some mistakes we did have in our defensive line and linebacker play and get back to playing more aggressive there. We will pack our lunch boxes and go back to work this week to correct them, commented coach Kamps. We have a tough opponent in Laona/Wabeno next week that we have to make sure we are prepared for, so we will work hard to get things corrected this week. Need to make sure the kids continue to improve and work hard each week.

Noffke finished up with 101 yards on his nine carries, Petersons carry total was good for 77 yards while Brett Milhans carried the ball 11 times for 55 yards.

Offense Goes Cold

For Rangers

In week two action against Laona/Wabeno, the Rangers simply couldnt duplicate the kind of success they saw in the season opener that saw them roll their way to a 300-yard offensive effort and a 16-point win over Crandon. Rather, the Wausaukee crew struggled to generate consistent offense and fell 20-6 to the Logrollers in Wausaukee.

The two teams were knotted up at six apiece at the halftime break following a score from each offense in the second frame. Wausaukees came off a 34-yard scoring pass from Aaron Schlies to Bailey Brix while Laona/Wabeno got a one-yard rush for a touchdown int he second from Dylan Houts.

Both teams were held scoreless in the third frame before Laona/Wabeno broke it open in the fourth quarter with Houts hammering one in from 13-yards to give the logrollers the scoreboard edge. Laona/Wabeno wrapped it up later in the frame with an 11-yard touchdown pass from Austin Andrews to Craig Mentz.

Wausaukee was led by 66-yards rushing from Schlies on 15 attempts, followed by eight rushes for 50 yards from Smith.

Titans Game Suspended

The Lena/STAA Titans were doing their best to work their way back into last Friday nights home game against Oakfield when the weather decided to shut things down.

The game in Lena was called at halftime due to lightning with Oakfield up 6-0.

If the game would mean anything for either team as far as playoff implications are concerned, it will be replayed October 23, 24 or 25. Lena/STAA got an interception by Matt Marquardt to highlight a nice Titans defensive effort in the first half.